Three Flew Over Anzu's Head
by Day of Diana
Summary: As a somewhat naive teen in her high school years, Anzu unknowingly is the object of three males lust. She waltzes through it all, though, never suspecting a deeper meaning behind all of their actions. Until the end. Rated T, but may turn to M later...
1. She Slaps Bakura

**Hai hai! And so another story bursts forth from me... inspired by another Anzu/Bakura/Ryou/Kaiba fan fiction. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its characters... but I wish I did. *Strokes finger down action figure Bakura's back* :D**

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It was a simply beautiful, sunny day in Domino City, and Anzu thought it was a pure shame that she had to spend it in school. A Monday nonetheless. She sighed and tossed back her head, looking up at the lovely sun. She was walking to school, per her usual route, and quite suddenly (because she was looking to the sky and not the sidewalk) she bumped into someone, and stumbled backward.

"Hey, watch it... oh. I know you. You're that girl who's friends with Yugi." Kaiba had turned around and was glaring at her. He was last in a long line, which extended past the Starbuck's front door, presumably because the tiny coffee shop was overflowing with customers.

Anzu tried to smile as brightly as she could, but in her mind she called him all sorts of curses. She had never liked Kaiba, even the first time she saw him. Tall, dark-looking, with straight brown hair and icy deep blue eyes, Kaiba reminded her of some sort of villain from a gory fairy tale. Not that she had read any, those Grimm Brother fairy tales. Oh, and of course he had battled Yugi several times and shouted insults at her best friend.

"So, anything you want? Because you're blocking the Starbuck's line with your fat... bookbag. Going to school, and walking no less?" Kaiba shook his head as Anzu's mind let forth a string of curses, none of which she shouted out loud.

"A pity no one but me can ride in a limousine to school, eh, Anzu?" Kaiba chuckled without smiling, which was rather creepy. Anzu resisted the urge to run away right then, and instead she said...

"Yeah, a real pity Kaiba, that no car but a limousine can fit your huge ego into it." And on that note Anzu sidestepped him and continued walking to school, a scowl on her face that would be gone by the time she arrived at her locker.

"Damn Kaiba, waving around his money and... more money... into my face, with his narcism, 'Oh, and you're walking to school, Anzu? What, can't afford a limousine to drive you to school everyday? My ego is sooo big I almost can't fit it into KaibaCorp anymore; here, hold this large steaming bucket of _really _expensive Starbucks coffee.' He makes me sick."

Anzu kept walking and talking to herself, earning her concerned glances from passerby, but no one stopped the teen as she made her way down Oak Avenue to the stone high school building.

She didn't notice until much later that he had called her by her first name.

*****************************

Anzu sat down in fourth period extremely pleased with herself. She had just gotten back an A++ from her Algebra exam in third period, and when she read the school's largest bulletin board, she saw that she was the star of the musical theatre show, and one more thing: on the announcements the school principal said that the class who had collected the most cans for the food drive was Anzu's homeroom, which meant they would be getting a pizza party later on in the week. She was so excited, she could hardly keep her smile off of her face.

The teacher was writing something on the board, Joey and Tristan were whispering near her, and Yugi was obediently taking notes, which were probably going to Tristan and Joey later.

Anzu was diligently copying the notes too, when she suddenly felt something tracing down her back. She shivered at the touch, and turned around slowly to see Ryou, who normally sat two rows to the left of her, sitting in the seat right behind her. He was taking notes, a bored expression on his face.

Anzu raised her eyebrows. Had she imagined it? Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she turned back to her desk and went on taking notes. After a few seconds, she felt something warm on her neck, like a little breath being blown on it. She whipped around again, but Ryou was still taking notes, looking as bored as ever. Anzu frowned, then smirked. A plan to catch him next time formed in her mind.

But Ryou didn't do anything to her for the rest of the period. Anzu was patiently waiting to put her plan into action, but the moment never came.

As the bell rang, and the other students gathered their things to go to luncheon, Anzu put a hand on Ryou's shoulder, meaning to ask him a few questions. Joey, Tristan, and Yugi stopped when they realized at the classroom door when they realized she wasn't with them, but she waved them to go on. Joey and Tristan shrugged, then let their noses guide them to the cafeteria, while Yugi kept looking back and forth between the cafeteria and Anzu with her hand clamped on Ryou's shoulder.

"I'm sure I can wait, Anzu, if it won't take long..." Yugi began, but Anzu cut him off.

"No, you can go on ahead, I might be a while."

Ryou started, looking at her. "You might be a while?" He said in a somewhat hollow voice, blushing slightly pink. This, however, went unnoticed by Anzu as she nodded to Yugi to go eat. Yugi nodded back, though he threw the pair of them a suspicious glance before hurrying off.

Anzu took her hand off of Ryou's shoulder. She took a tiny breath, then looked him full on the face. He colored lightly again, never having been glared at by a female before. Not even his mother. Especially not by his crush.

"Were you, um..." Anzu found that she did not know how to phrase what she wanted to say. She wasn't timid like Ryou, but somehow, confronting a timid creature sometimes makes oneself less sure of how to proceed.

Ryou was waiting for her to go on. His fingers were trembling slightly, and he tried to get them to knock it off by tapping the teacher's desk, which was right beside him.

Anzu didn't like the tapping noise. She wasn't about to say so, though, as her next question would be sure to stop his incessant tapping.

"During class, did you run your finger down my back and blow on my neck?"

She was right. Ryou did stop tapping. For about a second. He then started again, faster than he had been tapping before.

"Good heavens, no! Why on earth would I do such a thing?" His voice seemed to be pleading rather than stating, and Anzu thought of something. Why hadn't it occurred to her before?

"Oh, I see now. Ryou, how many times did you black out during class today?"

In response, his eyes darkened to a shade of deep brown chocolate. Anzu frowned. "Bakura."

Ryou, or rather, Bakura smirked. "Mortal...ah? I forget all of you mortal's names."

Anzu's frown deepened and she placed her hands on her hips. Bakura continued to smile evilly. "Don't do that, sweetheart. I hate to see sour looks on pretty faces."

In response, Anzu slapped him as hard as she could across his snarky face. Bakura, obviously not expecting her fury to be transmitted from her palm to his alabaster face, stumbled backward and hit his back on the rim of the chalkboard. He swore loudly, but hid his pain. Anzu was breathing a little heavily, and immediately regretted her punch. Ryou would feel it when he returned in control of his body.

"Little skank! Girls who did that to men in my day would have been put behind cages!" Bakura wanted to rub his sore spots, but he couldn't. Not in front of _her. _

Anzu, who was about to grab her pack and zoom off to the cafeteria, stopped short and gave Bakura a short lecture on the 21st century.

"Yeah, well, you're not in ancient Egypt anymore, Bakura! This is a time and place where you do not get put in jail just for your gender or color of your skin! And _boys _do not harass girls in class without their permission!" Anzu bit her lip, wishing she could take back her last sentence, but pushed on anyway, because her anger was leading her to another furious statement.

"In present day Japan, people do not touch - especially people they don't know - other people in a suggestive manner!" Anzu's anger had colored her face, and her breathing was coming rapidly.

Bakura took notice of both facts, smirking, and said, "Suggestive manner? I was just reassuring myself as to whether your vest was made of real cashmere, and as to the blowing... you had a lady bug on you neck, Anzu."

Anzu could have smelled the lies a mile away. Bakura twitched his upper lip, and Anzu felt the intense need to hurt him again. She reared back, but Bakura was ready this time. He passed the body back to Ryou's consciousness before the blow struck.

Anzu hit Bakura, who seemed not only to be completely unaware that her hand would soon land him flat on the floor, but also very taken aback by it. It was only after he sat up and rubbed his head tenderly that Anzu realized the body was Ryou's again. She clapped both of her hands to her mouth, and bent over to help him up. However, Ryou, with tears of pain beginning to form in his eyes, pushed her hand away, jumped up, and ran out of the classroom.

Anzu stood stock still for a moment before sprinting out of the classroom herself, but stopped short when she realized she didn't know where poor Ryou had disappeared to.

"Damn it! I'm sorry Ryou! I really am!" Anzu yelled down both the right and left halls. No one answered her desperate apologies. Sighing, and hoping Ryou would forgive her, Anzu walked back to the classroom. She picked up her knapsack, then noticed Ryou had left his own backpack on his desk. Anzu looked at it for a second before deciding the least she could do was return it to him. Then maybe she could say sorry again and he would say it was okay. Somehow, she didn't doubt that was what would happen.

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Anzu didn't see Ryou for the rest of the day. There were three periods left in the day, and she had Ryou in two of them, so she was sure that she would be able to return his backpack to him later that day. However, his absence kept her from carrying out her plan. She worried for a bit, but finally figured he was so upset that he had skipped the rest of the day. She winced. Who knew she could be the cause of so much suffering to one person? She could only hope he would accept her apology. But that would have to wait until tomorrow.

Anzu filled her knapsack with all of the necessary books for her homework, and debated whether she should take Ryou's backpack home with her. Well... it didn't exactly fit comfortably in her overstuffed locker, and she had an absurd idea that she needed to make Ryou's backpack feel nice during its time away from its owner. Besides, the backpack wasn't that heavy, and she had no idea where Ryou lived. Better just bring it with her.

Anzu didn't have work, dance, musical theatre practice, or plans with Yugi, Joey and Tristan later that afternoon, so she was going to walk straight home. It wasn't a far walk, but before Anzu made it halfway to her house, she had to stop and rest. Ryou's backpack and her knapsack's combined weight was too much for her to handle. And they had been so easy to lift before! Anzu sat down on a bus stop bench and placed the bags to her left. She stretched her legs out in front of her, and stretched her arms over her head. She wiggled her toes in her shoes, then slumped against the bench.

"Well well. I see my advice from this morning worked. Why walk to school and home when you can ride?" Anzu, startled, raised her head to a person carrying a briefcase in one hand and a hot coffee in the other. Kaiba was towering over her, standing at an uncomfortably close place to her. She quickly thought up a retort.

"The genius billionaire is waiting for the bus? Where is his gorgeous, snow white limousine?" Anzu pretended to think hard. Kaiba raised his eyebrows, then sipped his coffee.

"Didn't you see it? Its right over there," said Kaiba, lowering his cup and pointing to a long white limo... on the other side of the street. Unknowingly, Anzu had sat down on a bus bench right across from KaibaCorp. She cursed her tired limbs.

"Oh..." Anzu said without really thinking. Kaiba nodded, his stoic expression never changing. Then he asked a question.

"Why are you carrying two backpacks?" Anzu looked up at him, surprised. Kaiba, ask about the well-being of another human?

"Why, Kaiba, I didn't know you cared." It was the truth, and she hadn't meant to be flirtatious. However, a light coloring showed on his cheeks. It disappeared quickly as it had come, though.

"I don't. The bags were taking up so much room I had to do a double take. 'Surely, I asked myself, that backpack of Anzu's isn't _that _enormous.' And I was right, as usual."

Anzu huffed and blew her bangs away from her face. What an insensitive, snobbish jerk Kaiba was! She should shut him up right now. She turned to him and opened her mouth, but Kaiba was already gone, walking across the street to his limo. He didn't look back once. Anzu snarled, and her face contorted with it. Huffing angrily, she heaved the two heavy backpacks over her shoulder, and continued walking home.

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When Anzu stepped into the quaint little house, she wasn't surprised about the deathly quiet in it. Her parents were often at work until late. They got up very early in the morning, usually left her money on the counter for lunch, then came back home so late at night that she was often already asleep. She rarely saw them when they were awake and happy. But she knew the reason why they worked long hours. To provide a better life for their only daughter. Anzu blew her bangs out of her eyes again.

She set Ryou's backpack on the kitchen table, glad to be freed of the cumbersome weight. She then walked into the family room and took off her own backpack. Much better. She rolled her shoulders and stretched her arms over her head, twisting this way and that to relieve her stiff neck, back, and shoulders.

Since she didn't have too much homework, she finished it quickly before grabbing a snack (an apple) out of the refrigerator. She didn't really want to watch television, and thought about trying to find Ryou's address in the school phone book, but decided against it. She was tired, and, although it was only 4:30, she wanted to take a bath and go to sleep.

Anzu glided up the stairs, walked down the short hallway to her room, and stepped inside it. She closed the door and locked it (out of habit) and began undressing without bothering to turn on her bedroom lights. When she heard a small rustling in the corner of her room, she thought nothing of it. Anzu sat down on her bed and pulled off her skirt. She almost had it off when she heard a small cough somewhere in the darkness in front of her. She froze, only in her bra and panties. The room light flickered on, and there stood Ryou, blinking in the sudden bright light. Anzu scrambled for the blanket folded neatly at the end of her bed.

"I didn't think it would be this easy to convince you..." Bakura was looking her up and down. She had managed to pull the blanket around herself just in time.

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**Oh dear... how will Anzu get out of this one?**


	2. Her Dignity Is In Trouble

**Disclaimer: No ownership here, but check out this awesome comic I made of Ryou and Bakura! So cuuuuute! Squees for both of them!**

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Anzu had barely managed to grasp the Alaska blanket around her thin body when Bakura advanced, his eyes glittering as if he had spotted a large amount of treasure. Anzu didn't realize she had been retreating from him until her thighs hit her bed, and she tried not to fall back on it. She stared as fiercely as she could into Bakura's dark eyes. Bakura suddenly laughed.

"Even in a _rather _compromising position, she still tries to retain her strength and dignity. As if she hadn't lost them along with her blouse and skirt! Stubborn thing, isn't she, Ryou?"

Anzu wondered why Bakura had said that last bit to Ryou, but didn't concentrate on it. She stood straight up. Bakura was still a head taller than her, and he didn't back away. He could probably see into her... Anzu drew the blanket closer to her chest. She was suddenly overcome by a bubble of rage.

"What the hell are you doing here? How long have you been in here?" Anzu kept the bubbles beneath the surface, waiting for his response to fuel her anger. Bakura looked mildly at her bedside alarm clock.

"About 4 hours. But, I've already gotten more than I came here for. So, I'll be on my way now..." Bakura strode idly towards Anzu's door, but she jumped in front of him, blocking his way. He rolled his eyes, then settled them on her face.

"Why bar my way, girl? Do you know how easily I could knock you down?" Anzu rolled her eyes this time.

"Oh yeah, like you _totally _destroyed me in school today. I'm still sore!" Anzu spat out mockingly. She held the blanket to her chest in fists. "I would like to know why you came here today, snuck into my house like a common thief!"

Bakura, to Anzu's immense surprise, bowed shortly and then stood back up. "That is my trade, girl! I am the king of thieves! And how else was I supposed to trap you, in an alley? I knew where you lived, girl, and I intended to get revenge for the blows you dealt my body this morn!"

Bakura shoved Anzu aside, opened the door roughly, and walked quickly down the short hall to the stairs. Halfway down, though, Anzu suddenly heard his footsteps cease.

"Oh, dear me, where am I?" came a quiet, calm voice from the stairway. "This isn't my house..."

Ryou had gained control of his body once again. Anzu, forgetting her appearance for a moment, was filled to the brim with guilt. She must go down the stairs to tell Ryou what had happened. She was obligated to.

On the stairs, Ryou was looking placidly at a picture fixed above his head. Anzu took a tentative step on the wooden staircase, and it creaked. She winced. She had just remembered her clothing.

Ryou whipped around, startled, Anzu was sure. Then his whole face flared brilliantly scarlet and he clenched the banister until his hand turned even paler than usual. Ryou turned his head quickly away from Anzu.

"I-I-I'm so s-sorry, Anzu," Ryou stammered with his eyes firmly on the oak front door. His mind was somewhere else, though...

"Oh my god, Ryou, I'm sorry too. I completely forgot what I was wearing because I felt obliged to tell you about Bakura---"

"B-Bakura?" Ryou stumbled over the name, but he couldn't stop a grin from spreading across his face. So, Ryou had been right about the king of thieves after all... his only question was: how had Bakura seduced her into bed so fast?

"Yes. He was in my room just now, and he said something about revenge? Do you know what he was talking about?"

A little voice stirred in Ryou's mind. It said, "Seduce? Get your filthy head out of the gutter before you fall in, stupid boy. Feel inside your pocket. It should be there. And do not tell her, in case you didn't get the hint!"

Ryou gave the tiniest nod to the voice. Bakura, giving him instructions yet again. They had an understanding. Anyway, he had slipped outside of Bakura's control during the walk around Anzu's house. He had seen Bakura slipping a small camera phone into his jeans pocket, taking some money, a handful of jewelry, and two oatmeal cookies from Anzu's cookie jar. He had had to go back inside of his mind before Bakura noticed his presence, but he had seen enough. Should he give Anzu the camera phone? He probably should...

"Don't, you fool! It contains my revenge! Stupid boy..." Bakura muttered darkly. Ryou was caught. Should he do the right thing and give the phone to Anzu... or obey his dark side? He was strongly inclined to follow the latter option... but Anzu would kill him if she found out he had known. Then again, the vice versa was true too, and would happen a lot sooner.

"I'll say it would. Hurry up now, give her a shrug and we can be out the door!" Bakura snapped impatiently.

Ryou had been standing on the staircase with his eyes straight ahead of him for five minutes. Although he was standing stock still, Anzu had an absurd thought he was involved in a painful internal struggle. But that couldn't be... Ryou and Bakura didn't communicate with each other. They didn't even mix: Ryou was water, calm and cool and flowy. Bakura was oil, silky and smooth and always quick to slide away. They didn't mix. So why did Anzu feel as if they were having a shouting match inside Ryou's head?

Finally, Ryou spoke. "I don't have any earthly idea what he was talking about, Anzu. Sorry." He shrugged his shoulders. Anzu frowned. Ryou had spoken a little too calmly, too cooly. Cold, in fact.

"Alright..." said Anzu, but she descended down the stairs towards the supposed Ryou. If it really were him, she'd know. Wouldn't she?

Ryou didn't hear Anzu until she laid a hand on his shoulder. He could have jumped six feet in the air, but Bakura seized control of his limbs and forced him to stay put, without so much as a quiver.

"Damn fool, boy! Say you have to leave!" Bakura shouted in his mind.

"Is everything okay, Ryou?" Anzu asked, while thinking she would have to spin him around to be sure his eyes weren't that of Bakura's.

"Y-yes. I-I have t-to go n-now, A-Anzu. B-bye..." Ryou cursed his mouth for stuttering, but his mind was in somewhat of an overdrive, jumping from picture to picture of Anzu...

Without another word, Ryou zoomed down the stairs and flung open the front door, running from his perverted imagination and the thought that he might just tell Anzu about the camera phone. While he was sprinting to who knows where, Bakura was laughing like a maniac. It was all very well that his mortal host was carrying them both away, without making _him_ work too.

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Anzu stood on the stairs, not quite shocked that Ryou had run out of the door, but disappointed that he had. Disappointed in herself for letting him run. She remembered something...

"Oh! His book bag! Argh! I forgot to give it too him..." Anzu face palmed her forehead. "Well, I might as well get to that shower..."

After Anzu had showered and put on a fresh change of clothes, her first priority was to rifle through the school address book to find where Ryou lived. She had made up her mind in the shower. She would march right over to his house, push his backpack into his hands, and demand to speak to Bakura. Then she would smack that cheeky king of thieves, and get on with her life. Oh, and she still had to apologize to Ryou... for the punch this morning. Anzu hoped everything would be alright at school tomorrow.

As Anzu was searching through the kitchen drawers for the school address book, she heard a curious sound. Music, playing somewhere near the kitchen table. Anzu walked over to the table, and looked around for the source of the music. It was coming from Ryou's backpack.

Smiling, and wondering if she should answer Ryou's phone, she found her fingers digging through his backpack before she had fully made up her mind. 'Ah, well... I'm just going to find it.' thought Anzu. She wasn't usually impulsive, but she couldn't resist. The phone appeared under a particularly thick notebook, which she threw on the table without a second glance. Ryou had a kind of caller i.d. on his phone, and Anzu read who was calling. The block letters above the number spelled out: **HOME**

"Oh," Anzu said aloud. "Ryou must be calling his cell phone to find out where it is..." 'Well, it's here with me. He shouldn't have run off like that.' Anzu didn't answer it. She laid it down on the table and let it continue ringing. Eventually the phone switched to its answering machine. Anzu smirked, getting a sadistic satisfaction out of that. She felt sort of evil.

Anzu got up from the table, glancing once again at Ryou's gigantic notebook. She froze, then took a second look at it. The notebook had _her _name on it, in every corner of the book, written as small as 12 font. And her name also bordered the notebook's cover. There were also one heart between every two of her names...

Anzu sat down. She knew she shouldn't leaf through his notebook... it was Ryou's property! But... she was still feeling a bit naughty from not picking up his phone...

The phone rang, so suddenly that Anzu jumped three feet in the air, from where she was sitting. Her parents, probably. Anzu left the strange notebook on the table and went to check the caller i.d. on her home phone. Yeah, it was her parents. Anzu answered it, while she thought she heard the garage door open. Her mother was on the other end of the phone line, and then her father and mother burst through the garage door. Anzu nearly dropped the phone. Her parents were home early! Her mother shut her own cell phone, and her father went up to Anzu and hugged her.

"Let's go out to dinner, sweetie!" Her father said, and Anzu went to grab her sweater and shoes. Anzu promptly forgot about Ryou's notebook... until the next morning.

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Anzu had never had a better night's sleep. Her father and mother had both gotten promotions at work, and now they would be coming home earlier! She practically skipped to school that morning, even carrying her and Ryou's backpacks. She had decided, because she had been in such a good mood that morning, that she wouldn't disrupt Ryou's private thoughts by flipping through his notebook. Besides, it could be a different Anzu entirely. She ignored the fact that she was the only Anzu in the high school.

Anzu was in such high spirits Tuesday morning, that she decided to get a small peppermint latte for herself at the Starbucks on the way to school. There wasn't a long line. Just perfect. Anzu set both book bags on the tile flooring, and dug around in her coin purse for the $6.23 she owed for the latte. To her shock and disappointment, however, she had only 10 cents in it. There was a note, signed by her father, saying: I.O.U. Anzu snapped the coin purse closed with a sad smile. Her father usually did that when he wanted to buy a donut from the bakery across from his work. Damn... why hadn't she checked it before she had left the house?

Anzu pushed the peppermint latte back to the cashier behind the counter. The salesperson looked at her questioningly.

"I...I can't afford it. Sorry..." Anzu gave an apologetic smile to the cashier, who rolled his eyes before taking back the cup.

"I'll buy it for you." said a familiar voice behind Anzu. "Rayoe, put however much it costs on my tab."

The cashier, Rayoe, nodded and did a silly salute before ringing the latte up. Rayoe handed it to Anzu and gestured for the next customer. Kaiba stepped forward.

"The usual, if you don't mind, my good man."

Anzu pulled the backpacks across the line before Kaiba squashed them with his shiny black dress shoes. He took his cup of coffee from Rayoe, then, without so much as a glance at Anzu, swept around and out of the store. Anzu stood still for a moment before running after him, forgetting the bags and her latte behind.

"Hey!" She shouted. "Kaiba! Wait!"

Kaiba stopped, but didn't turn around. She had to run in front of him to speak to his face.

"Kaiba," Anzu began, but Kaiba held up his hand.

"What, was I supposed to open the door for you too?" Kaiba was sneering. Anzu colored a bit.

"Er, no. I was going to thank--"

"Good. I don't have time for that." Kaiba sneered, and tried to push past her. Anzu blocked his way. Now she was angry.

"Okay, look," Anzu took a step back from him; being that close made her feel really short. "I was going to thank you and say I'm going to pay you back, but if you don't have _time _, fine!"

Kaiba snorted. "I don't need _your _money."

Anzu stomped her foot on the ground. "What, is my money not good enough for you?" She didn't care if she was starting to cause a scene. Kaiba is a jerk.

The jerk rolled his eyes and raised his eyebrows. "In case you've forgotten, I'm rich. I wouldn't need your money anyway." Anzu's mouth dropped open. Rude, much?

Kaiba smirked. "You didn't know I was rich?"

Anzu closed her mouth. "Okay, I've had it. I'm not going to pay you back. I'm going to pretend these last few minutes haven't happened." She straightened up, and was about to stomp march back into Starbucks to get her things when she heard Kaiba mutter something.

"What was that?" Anzu snapped.

Kaiba was already walking away, but Anzu heard him say, "Nothing at all."

Anzu made up her mind to graffiti a side of KaibaCorp on the weekend. Maybe she would use permanent paint, too.

****************************

Anzu made it to school a few minutes late, but it wasn't a serious setback. She had to quick-walk to her locker, but at least she wasn't running, like some people did. That was against school rules.

Anzu didn't see Ryou during her quick-walk, but she would give him his backpack before the school day was out. She did not want to lug it all the way home today; she had musical theatre practice and dance.

Anzu twirled her locker combination speedily. Only three minutes until the late bell rung. She flung open her locker and hauled Ryou's backpack up to put it in, but an avalanche of papers spilled out of the locker and flowed all over the floor. What the...

Anzu blanched when she saw the picture on the paper. It was her... and she was... Anzu gasped, and threw herself to the floor to quickly pick up all of the scattered papers. 'Who ever did this,' thought Anzu, 'Is in a deep load of shit.'

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**Did you guess what the picture is of? You all have dirty, voyeuristic minds! And I sincerely applaud you for it. **


	3. Ryou Is A Horrible Teenager

**Hopefully, this will satisfy all of you who are Bakura fans! Squee!**

**Disclaimer: However much I would love (times a million) to own Yu-Gi-Oh!, I (sadly) do not. **

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Ryou knew he was in trouble. He had known he was in trouble since yesterday afternoon, when Bakura had printed all of those papers at Kinko's. He should have given the camera phone to Anzu yesterday... oh, why didn't he? Curse his timid, forgiving nature. Curse it to heck! And now he was sitting in first period. He was not taking notes as he was supposed to. His stomach was tied up in knots, and he felt truly sick. He would see Anzu in fourth period. Should he cut the class? Cut the rest of the day? No, he had a presentation in fifth, and a project due in seventh. Also, today was the fourth period quiz. He couldn't skip. He would have to ride it out, and hope Anzu would take pity on him. Oh, how much he hoped. Deep in his mind, Ryou heard a barely repressed laugh.

'Bakura! This is all your fault!' Ryou shouted at his dark side. 'How could you drag me into this?!'

In his mind's eye, Ryou could see Bakura shrug and grin. Then the dark side spoke. "First off, foolish boy, I'm attached to you. I cannot split from your body, no matter how much I want to. Second, you could have stopped me at any time. You and I both know how loosely I was controlling your limbs whilst we were printing the papers. Third, you knew the consequences. You decided to keep at it, regardless. It is shared fault that you feel guilty now."

Ryou, sickened all the more that these reasons were all true, leaned his face on his desk. The cool metal soothed made him feel better, though he had no idea why.

'She's going to be mad as heck when she sees me,' Ryou told Bakura, who nodded and smirked. 'What do you think she'll do?'

"That's hardly any concern of mine, boy. I'll keep in here where I can't feel the hits you'll be dealt." Ryou saw Bakura's smirk grow wider. Ryou sighed deeply.

'I suppose. But I have a question...' Bakura lifted one of his pale eyebrows. 'Why did you sniff Anzu's undergarments?'

Bakura's smirk disappeared, but his face remained impassive. "Where did that question come from? I did no such thing." Ryou's turn to smile.

'But you did. I was watching you walk around the house through my eyes. It was like, we shared the eyes. You didn't notice.' Bakura was frowning now.

"How did you manage without my noticing?"

'I was only watching for a few minutes at a time. That way, my presence wouldn't be as strong as if I looked for a long time. But, back to my question.'

Bakura's frown deepened. "None of your business, fool."

Ryou's smile could be described as a smirk now. 'I believe it is. We do share the same body, mind and soul, you know. It's only fair.'

"We most certainly do not share the same mind and soul! I have no soul, and a much cleverer mind than you! It is only the body!" Bakura scowled. "I don't have to tell you anything, stupid boy."

Ryou laughed. He couldn't believe it. He had been so right about this... and it was hilarious.

"Boy! Stop laughing! It will draw attention to you!"

Ryou stopped with a bit of difficulty. "Alright... I've answered my own question. Thanks, Bakura."

Bakura snarled. "It is not what you think! I can see your reasoning, it is floating above me in your horrible handwriting! I can see it! It's not correct! It is false!"

'Really? I should keep a second journal in my imagination, then, so you can't see my thoughts floating in midair. Oh, bugger!' For Ryou had just remembered: his backpack. He had left it at school yesterday, and had returned for it after the run to Kinko's, but it hadn't been there. Yugi (who had been in an after school club) had told him Anzu had taken it home.

Ryou had been too embarrassed and consumed by guilt by then to return to Anzu's house, so he didn't go back that evening. Ryou had not thought about his journal being in his backpack! Suppose... oh, that was ridiculous. Anzu wasn't a nosy person... but...

Ryou assumed the worst. The period bell rang, and, spirits sinking lower and lower, Ryou gathered his textbooks and walked slowly out the door. He knocked smack into Anzu. Her face was a shade of dark pink, and she was scowling.

'Oh gods,' Ryou thought as Bakura laughed in the background of his mind, 'Oh gods, why me?'

***************************

Anzu had barely picked up all of the horrid papers before the late bell rung. She had then roughly shoved Ryou's backpack into her locker, and slammed the door, fuming. She intended to shred all of these, these, _awful _papers in the privacy of her home. How could he have? How _dare _he have? It was so low, even for Bakura. She wondered, as she stamped down to her first period, how many more of those pictures Bakura had, and... the last thought was even too awful to imagine.

But Anzu had had to check. She would turn in a pass at first period. She ran all over the school, checking all of the bathrooms, hallways, bulleton boards, even in a janitors closet, for any more of the papers. None were plastered anywhere else, though she checked everywhere three times. By the end of her luckily fruitless search, she was very angry, and she knew by the heat of her face that her features were dark and pink.

It was way below the belt, what Bakura did. Even if he didn't place any papers anywhere else, Anzu thought that even printing the copies would earn the bastard her permanent distrust and hatred. He could have ruined her whole high school reputation for those papers. It was a very serious offense, one of the highest rules to never be broken, especially from a straight A++ student. She would have been kicked off all of her clubs and put into suspension. Even if she didn't do it on purpose. Not to mention how embarrassed and ashamed her parents would be of her... and she couldn't begin to think about how many of her friends would shun her.

When the first period bell had rung, she had not been in her class. She had been stalking down the science wing, checking it for a fourth time. Her anger had been calming down, but she was still pretty mad.

In fact, she must still have been furious enough to not watch where she was going, because she strode right into someone and his textbooks thudded to the ground. She was just about to mutter an apology and help the someone, when she recognized him.

"Bakura!!" She shrieked.

******************************

Thankfully, Anzu knew that if she started a shouting match in the middle of the science wing she would cause a scene (and probably get suspended), so she dragged Ryou painfully by his forearm to the girls' restroom.

Ryou, scared but still in his right mind, tried to dig his heels into the tile floor outside of the restroom. He produced enough friction so that Anzu could not pull him forward into it. She tugged forcefully on his arm, but he would not give in.

"What is your problem! We need to talk about something very important!" Anzu squeezed his forearm until it hurt. He tried to free it, but Anzu had a tight grip.

"I know what you need to speak about Anzu, believe me, I do, but _not in there_." Ryou desperately twisted his arm, and broke it out of Anzu's hold. She snatched it back. Apparently, she was afraid he would run off. Ryou grudgingly accepted this fact.

"Why ever not? I could if I really wanted to, you know. To humiliate you like you would have done to me!" Anzu was very very angry. Her blue eyes practically spit fire at his. Bakura chuckled in Ryou's mind. Ryou ignored him. He knew he needed to explain his error.

"Anzu... I'm very sorry. Truly I am. But, you see, I convinced Bakura to not put them up, you see. I told him it would ruin your high school career." Anzu was glaring at Ryou with all her might. She clapped her hand over her mouth, subsequently releasing his arm.

"You knew! You knew he would put them up all over the school? It... that... that would have... You KNEW!" Anzu was now too angry to speak.

"I apologize profusly, Anzu. We didn't put them up..." Ryou bit his tongue. Bakura spoke up in a sly voice, "Shouldn't have said 'we', should you have?"

Ryou told him to shut up. Anzu suddenly turned around and walked away. Her color was back to normal, but quickly turning pale. Tears started to gather in the corners of her eyes. Ryou had made such a bad mistake. He had now officially lost a friend.

******************************

A few nights later, Anzu was walking up her front porch with a satisfied smile on her face. She had performed wonderfully in the musical theatre rehersal, and had recieved a lot of praise from her dance teacher that afternoon.

Anzu had ignored Ryou since she had walked away from him four days ago. Now she wondered if she was ready to forgive him. After all... Ryou was such a nice person, and she was sure he wouldn't do it again. She had thought about his apology in the last few days, and he had sincerely seemed sorry. However, Bakura was another story. She just didn't know. But she was ready to accept Ryou back. On Monday she would tell him; let him wallow in her "contempt" until then. How forgiving she was...

"Ah!" Anzu stumbled over something and tripped, falling on her face. She sat up and rubbed her head, cursing. What in the heck made her do that?

She unlocked the front door and turned on the porch light that was just inside the entrance hall. She gasped. A huge gift basket, decorated so prettily with the words "I'm Berry Sorry" sown on a ribbon on top blocked a smooth pathway to the front door. She had no doubt who it was from, but read the notecard anyway:

Dear Anzu,

I hope you will at least read this card before tearing this basket to shreds.

I am very really truly sorry, and I hope you will get past what Bakura tried

to do, and accept my heartfelt apologies. If you cannot, I must at least

insist that you do not spread awful rumors about me, as Bakura tried

to do to you. Once again, I am sorry.

From,

Ryou

'Aw,' Anzu thought, finishing reading the card. 'He really does feel sorry. And he didn't really do anything. And there are lots of chocolates in the basket. Mmmm...'

Anzu picked up the gift basket, which must have weighed forty pounds, and carried it inside, setting it down beside the door, before throwing her back out. She thought she heard a rustle in the lilac bushes surrounding the porch as she was closing the door, but was too tired to investigate.

She crawled into bed half an hour later, not bothering to draw her shades. She fell asleep while working out the walk to Ryou's house.

********************************

Sunday morning found Anzu up bright and early, at 7:00. Before 9:00, Anzu had showered, dressed, and eaten breakfast. Anzu had plans to hang out with Yugi, Joey, and Tristan at a brand new amusment park from 12:30 to 3:00, so she would pay a surprise visit to Ryou later in the afternoon. She could easily get Joey's mother to drive her to Ryou's house. Joey's mother was very nice. Then she would hail a taxi home. She didn't know what was going to happen in between. The thought made her nervous.

At 3:30, Anzu was dropped off at Ryou's house. It had been a farther drive than Google had said it would. Anzu felt a little betrayed by the search engine. Nevertheless, she waved goodbye to her friends and started up the cobbled sidewalk to Ryou's porch.

She knocked on the door. His porch was nice. It was better maintained than hers was, with all the rotting wood off to the sides...

The door opened. There stood a tall, thin man, with his finger in a book and round glasses perched on his nose. He looked sort of surprised to see her there.

"Er, can I help you, Miss?" The man had a charming British accent, just like his son.

"Yes, thank you. Is Ryou home?" Anzu felt an odd need to be as polite as possible.

"Why, yes, he is. He is in his room. Are you a friend of Ryou's?" Anzu was slightly taken aback by the man's crooked teeth, but kept her face as straight as possible.

"I am." The man pushed his glasses up his nose, then called over his shoulder:

"Ryou! A friend of yours is here to see you! A rather cute looking girl!" The man turned back to Anzu. "Won't you please come in, Dearie?"

Anzu nodded and thanked him. She stepped inside the house, and was greeted by a pleasant smell of cammimeale.

"I was just making tea. Afternoon tea, you know. Couldn't kick the habit when we moved to Japan... would you like some, Dearie?" Anzu smiled and said she would like a cup, thanks.

The man nodded, pushed his glasses up his nose, and bustled into the kitchen to pour her a cup. Anzu stayed in the hallway, looking at family photos. She didn't feel awkward, she just didn't know what to do with herself until Ryou's father arrived with the tea. Ryou hadn't come down the stairs yet, either, which Anzu found a little strange of him.

Ryou's father came back into the hallway, and gestured her into the kitchen. He assured Anzu that Ryou would be down soon. Perhaps Ryou was finishing an English essay or something, didn't she agree? Anzu nodded at each of the man's explanations. She finished her tea, as did the man, and they sat there for a few minutes, waiting for Ryou. He still did not come.

"Maybe you should pop in on him upstairs, Dearie, see if he won't rush downstairs to come talk to you. Third door on the left down the hall. I'll be down here if you can't find him."

"Alright. I will. Thank you again for the tea." Anzu got up and made her way to the stairs.

"No trouble, Dearie!" The man said as she ascended the staircase.

Anzu had no trouble finding Ryou's room. What she found inside was troubling. She had to blink twice then clap her hands over her eyes. Ryou was on his bed, lying against a bed head rest, with a magazine propped up on his stomach. The covers of his bed were thrown off, crumpled in a heap on the floor. His jeans were near his ankles, as were his boxers. And his hands were covered in a slimy substance, sliding sickeningly tenderly over his... this is what Anzu's eyes took in before she slapped her hands over them.

Ryou evidently heard the tiny sound, because a second later there was yelling, and she herself was giggling madly while trying to find the door.

Anzu almost fell down the stairs, but she remembered the stairs, uncovered her eyes, and flew down the mahogany steps. Ryou's father was placing cookies on a platter at the kitchen table, and he called to her while she rudely wrenched the front door open, but she didn't hear what he said. She would have been too embarrassed to reply anyway. Anzu found herself running aimlessly down a dark sidewalk before she stopped to rest her fast-beating heart. She looked up at the sky before thinking about what she had seen. The sky was covered with gray clouds, foreshadowing a heavy rainstorm. Anzu didn't care at this point, however.

Since there weren't any benches around, Anzu sat on the hot, dark sidewalk. She didn't care. It was all too mortifying. How could she face Ryou in school tomorrow, knowing what she saw? More importantly, how would he face her? He had every right to be angry. And she had just come over to forgive him. The tables had turned. Did fate hate her, or just want to teach her a disgustingly visual lesson? Oh, the very irony of it...

A fat raindrop landed on her head. Anzu stared up at the gray sky. In response, the sky spit down more raindrops, and one landed in her eye. It stung. 'That settles it,' Anzu thought, looking sadly at a green lawn across from her seat on the sidewalk, 'Fate _does_ hate me.'

It started really pouring, and Anzu had no where to keep herself dry. She couldn't to go back to Ryou's house. She didn't want to use another person's porch roof. So Anzu had no other option than to sprint to the nearest commercial store, which would be hard to find, given her current location in a maze of a never-ending residential neighborhood. She had to try, though.

Ten minutes passed, and Anzu was too out of breath to put her right foot in front of her left. She was still in a residential neighborhood, and now soaked to her core. Why hadn't she brought her cell phone with her? Or any money? What had she been _thinking?_

Anzu was about to give up and knock on a stranger's house for help, when she heard a car horn. She ignored it, and instead concentrated on finding a nice house to ring on. The car horn honked again, longer and louder. What was the driver's problem? She was on the sidewalk, not on the road! A third screech of the horn sounded in the pouring afternoon, and Anzu turned around to motion to the driver to go away. She never raised her hand.

A limousine, glittering white through the dark rain, was driving slowly behind her. 'It couldn't be...' Anzu thought. 'Kaiba...?'

The limousine sped up, and for a second Anzu had a crazy thought that it would drive right past her and splash her with mud (just like Kaiba to do that, eh?) but it pulled up alongside her, and a black tinted window rolled down, confirming Anzu's suspicions.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Kaiba said in a bored tone. "Get in."

Anzu just stared.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Will Miss Independent accept Kaiba's offer? Oh, the juicy details...**


	4. Bakura Must Have It

**Disclaimer: NO! For the last time, I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! I simply have plans to take it over in the near future. Bwa ha ha!**

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"Why is it, every time we run into each other, I'm in a bad situation?" Anzu asked as she slid into the seat across from Kaiba.

Anzu had hesitated at first, but then a crack of thunder had sounded, and a flash of lightning streaked low in the sky, and she had jumped a foot in the air and hurriedly accepted his, well, generous offer. Now she was dripping rain water in the interior of the limousine, which did not seem to faze Kaiba in the least.

"I think it's because you _enjoy _being the one to be saved. All of your kind do." Kaiba took a sip of something amber from a wine-like glass. Anzu stared.

"All of my kind? What, women in general?" Anzu wasn't in the mood for this. Kaiba could probably tell that from glaring straight at her face, but he answered. Much to Anzu's growing anger.

"Yes. I seem to recall a lot of books that depict women as the 'damsels in distress' and the men as 'shining knights in armor'." He sneered. Anzu bit back an ugly retort, and instead questioned the amber liquid in Kaiba's glass.

"Aren't you too young to drink alcohol? Or can you bend the laws in your favor, being a billionaire?" Anzu flicked some water off of her hand onto the plush violet carpet of the limousine. Kaiba didn't blink.

"This," He said, raising the wine glass, "Is apple juice. My brother Mokuba likes to play pretend with all of the fancy glasses and kiddy drinks." He took another sip of the apple juice. "It's quite fun, actually."

Anzu's irritation was increasing. She was also still wet, and was more than a bit certain her wet clothes were showing rated M parts of her body to Kaiba.

"Do you think I could have a, a towel or something? I mean, I am dripping all over your limousine." Anzu hoped she didn't sound too blank. She felt kind of exposed in the large seating area of the limo.

Kaiba muttered something before putting his glass down delicately on a silver lined tray. Presumably, it was a high end cup holder. Anzu didn't catch what Kaiba had mumbled, but she didn't care. It was most likely a snarky remark. Then Kaiba doubled over, retrieving a soft fluffy thing from a black glass case under his cushioned seat. It was a robe, stamped with the KaibaCorp seal on the waist pocket, and the name 'Mokuba' stitched in gold on the breast pocket. Anzu just stared.

Kaiba handed her the robe. She took it.

"That's my brother's robe," Kaiba started to say, but then the limousine stopped. Kaiba turned his head to the left, looking at the driver's window. He rolled his eyes, then pushed a button so that the wall between the driver and himself folded in half. Anzu could see a violet velvet cap sitting on the top of a gentleman with silvery hair.

"Why have you stopped, Watari?" Kaiba sounded annoyed, for some odd reason. Anzu was still holding Mokuba's robe loosely between her fingers.

"Sir, you have arrived at Miss Anzu's home. Should I walk her out under the umbrella? It is still raining quite steadily." Kaiba flushed slightly, a bit of pink coloring his cheeks and ears.

"My house? What? I didn't even tell you my address---" Anzu was cut off by Kaiba snatching back his brother's robe and saying, in a dark, frustrated voice,

"You should get out now. This is your house, as you very well can see. Get out." Anzu scrambled out of the limo as quickly as she could. The door slammed behind her, and she heard, in a distinct, clearly angry tone, "Watari! You're fired!" before the limo sped away. Anzu stood, blinking in the heavy rain, before coming to her senses and running up the sidewalk to a porch. She stepped back before ringing the doorbell. Even if it wasn't her house, she decided she must call her mother or father anyway. But, there was the dragon door knocker, and a chip in the wood of the door shaped exactly like a star, in the exact same place as where Yugi had scratched the shape out two years ago.

This really was her house.

********************************

Ryou paced the floor of his bedroom, debating as to what he should do. Call Anzu, apologize again? Why had she even come? His father hadn't known the reason, and now he was pestering Ryou as to who she was and why she had run out in such a rush. Oh, he told his father who she was. Not exactly who she was, but who she was. A general idea. And why had she gone so quickly? Well... because...

'Because I was being a blithering idiot. Because no one should ignore their father while trying to achieve a self-activated pleasure burst. Because Anzu was horrified by the awful truth, that I'm not a good person... I feel so dirty..."

Ryou stopped pacing and sat on his bed. He wouldn't be able to face her in school tomorrow...

"Better you than me, fool. Didn't I tell you your father was calling?" Bakura sneered. "But you chose to continue on with it, ensuring your fate. You should have seen the ghastly look on her face, Ryou. She looked as though all of her bloody world fell apart. Like everything she believed to be true wasn't. Like---"

"Oh, bugger off. You're no help." Ryou swung his legs onto his bed and stared gloomily at his star-studded ceiling. He had always liked those glow in the dark stars, refusing to throw them away when he and his father moved to Domino City.

Sadly, and to add to his guilt, Ryou had finished the job after Anzu had zoomed out of his house into the gray afternoon. He had just been so close to reaching it... but now it seemed the wrong choice. In fact, after he had done it, a horrible storm began beating at his windows, as if reprimanding his decision. The awesome feeling decreased to none in less time than it usually took, and he felt extremely guilty, but there was nothing he could do.

"Stupid boy. Anzu will never forgive you now, although the gift basket seemed to have worked." said Bakura quietly, adding the last few words as an afterthought to himself.

Ryou blinked at the glowing stars. He unclasped his hands and settled them at his sides, pushing himself up to lean against his bed headrest.

"What gift basket?" Ryou asked, curious. Bakura, in Ryou's mind's eye, blanched.

"Er, nothing. I was just... you must have misheard me. There is no gift basket. I said, um, 'bad casket'... because..." Ryou smirked, a smile that did not fit his soft features.

"You're rambling, Bakura. I know what that means. You forget how well I know you sometimes... so, care to tell? Or do I have to find out from Anzu?" Bakura was then gone in a flash of silvery shine. Ryou found himself in a tiny black space, and understood what had taken place.

"Bakura... you can't hide the information from me forever. I'll find out at school tomo---"

"Hold your tongue, you insolent boy! We're off to the jewelers shop. I have a sudden urge to steal." Ryou couldn't feel anything, but if he strained his ears he could hear Bakura walking down the mahogany staircase.

Ryou sighed, and folded his arms across his chest. It wouldn't do any good to arouse Bakura's anger, or he would find himself sore next morning. He would have to ask Anzu when Bakura least suspected it, so that he wouldn't be able to freeze Ryou's tongue in place as he tried to get the question out. Ryou heard his father calling to him, and Bakura snapped back that he was going out to the park. That was the usual lie. Ryou's father yelled back okey-dokey or something lame like that, but Bakura had already closed the front door harder than necessary.

Ryou laid down in the black 'room' and hoped Bakura wouldn't be caught, like he had two nights ago at a Walmart, carrying an oddly large package over his shoulder. Ryou had wondered what it was at the time, but Bakura had told him to be quiet or he would wake up looking worse enough to break three mirrors instead of the usual two.

He had shut up about the item, but now he thought he knew what it was.

Oh yes. He knew what it was...

*******************************

Anzu woke up at 3:45 a.m. Monday morning burning under her covers. She thrust them off, but then was shivering so violently she had to pull them back over her body. Then she was sweating, then freezing, as she threw and pulled on and off her covers. Finally, her stomach felt so queasy of this whole affair that she retched all over her polished wood floor.

"Dear me..." her mother had said when Anzu's temperature read 101 degrees. "You're pretty sick, sweetie."

Anzu would have nodded her head, but she couldn't manage. It felt so stuffed and awful.

"You shouldn't have run around in the rainstorm, sweetie." Her mother told her, shaking her head. "Stay in bed today, that's what I recommend. I'll be home at 5:00, okay?"

Anzu closed her eyes. She heard her mother gently close her bedroom door. 'Of all the days to be sick,' Anzu thought before she drifted off into a feverish sleep, 'I'm glad it was today.'

Outside, a dark clad figure started climbing up the tree right next to Anzu's window.

*******************************

Bakura had climbed before, up and down numerous things, without so much as breaking a sweat. Now, however, scaling up the side of this wretched tree, his hands were wet and his feet kept slipping. Near the top, he cut the index finger of his hand on a sharp flake of the tree. He cursed, which caused a startled bird to fly off of a branch beside him.

"Accursed tree! I don't remember trees being this tall in my day!" Bakura paused. "Actually, I don't remember there being any trees at all..."

Shrugging to himself, he continued climbing.

It was approximately 10:00 at night, and he was sneaking into the mortal girl's room for a certain object. He couldn't believe that he had lost the last... object... while on the way to a sweet shop a couple of nights ago. He needed a new one. And the insufferable girl was just (well, the only) the mortal from which to steal it from. The way it smelled, felt, and sounded as he snapped the elastic was enough to make him high. It was a different way of accessing the pleasure center of his brain than the actions the foolish boy did. Bakura had warned him that one day his jerking off would bite him in the back. Ryou hadn't listened to him. His loss, literally.

Bakura's bleeding subsided, and he made a mental note to take a bandaid from Anzu before he left.

It was curious, Bakura thought as he raised the window to Anzu's room, that the girl hadn't been in school today. His host had been very relieved. Bakura did not know why, but he had been sort of worried. He had grown less concerned during the school day, reassuring and scolding himself for his caring. Bakura did not notice, when he pushed the window to the top of its extent, and swung himself into Anzu's room, that he knocked a little white box to the muddy ground, two floors below him. It lay there like a baby pearl surrounded by wet gooey sand.

'Alright,' Bakura said to himself, 'Time to put my thieving fingers to the test...' He left the window open and crouched on his hands and knees, crawling cat-like to Anzu's dresser. The girl herself was asleep, tucked under a number of thick blankets with a peaceful look on her face. Bakura straightened up just a tad to glance over at her, then shrank back down and continued to her dresser. He liked to pretend he was a shadow liberating people of their useless junk, but tonight he knew this object was just for him.

Quite suddenly, so quickly that Bakura wasn't even expecting it, the door to Anzu's room swung open, creaking slightly. Bakura barely managed to hide under the nearest undercover spot: the bed.

He adjusted himself so he was lying on his stomach, and tensed up every muscle. He waited quietly while the intruder upon his plan walked with careful steps to Anzu's bedside. The person had feet clothed in bunny slippers, and was close enough so Bakura could see blue veins running up and down their legs. 'Disgusting,' Bakura thought, noting that the person had not shaved her legs in some time. 'Must be Anzu's mother.' Bakura let a sneer spread across his face. How he longed to cut a mark into the woman's leg so she would bleed. 'What an insane idea.' Bakura tried to determine what color Anzu's carpet was, but it was too dark. He waited for five minutes more, and then the woman retreated back the way she had come, and closed the door.

"Finally. Stupid woman." Bakura pulled himself out from under the bed. "Now to get on with it..."

Bakura leaped nimbly to the dresser, once again. Carefully as he could, he took ahold of one of the knobs and gently pulled it forward...

A rustling of Anzu's covers made him almost duck underneath the bed again, but she was still asleep. She had just pushed all of her covers to the floor, and Bakura could now see she was dressed in a silk nightgown that did not cover her legs.

His breathing sped up, and he could feel his heart in his throat. His eyes greedily drank in her perfect, smooth body, oh, her legs, chest and arms... Bakura had no idea why he was suddenly walking over to Anzu, foolish mortal girl that she was, pretty, bathed in moonlight, and he had a sudden ferocious urge to climb on top of her and fu---

Her bedroom door opened again, and Bakura heard a tiny gasp as he threw himself underneath the bed once again. Hurried footsteps rushed to the window, and Bakura noted that they were the bunny slipper feet. She apparently thought he had escaped out of the window. He restrained his growl and laughter.

Bakura heard a little 'huh' from the bunny slippered woman, then the sound of a creaky window closing and locking. Damn it. Well, he could open it again no problem...

The woman stooped to pick up Anzu's blankets from the floor, and Bakura tensed, barely breathing, knowing at any second he would be noticed, but the woman scooped all of the blankets in her arms and rearranged them over Anzu, taking her precious time. Bakura had a cramp ten minutes later, when the woman had finally lovingly smoothed out the last wrinkle in Anzu's top blanket. Then she tiptoed to the door a second time and closed it. Bakura breathed again.

"Glad that's over." Bakura whispered, then straightened up, stretching his back. He looked at Anzu once more. "You have a horrible mother, you know that? My mother was never that keen on making sure _I_ was under so many suffocating sheets. Good god."

Rather less sneakily than before, and wanting desperately to return to Ryou's home, Bakura pulled open the dresser drawer quickly and with less caution. His eyes roamed around it before he spotted what he wanted. Bingo.

"And now, the panty raid is complete." Bakura whispered in Anzu's direction. He folded the panty into a square and stuffed it into his pocket. He snuck over to the window and looked for the locking mechanism. To his dismay, he found it. Three little keyholes, evenly spaced across the top of the window. He cursed quietly. He needed to pick the lock, but did not have any paperclips on his person. He turned around and searched the room with his eyes for something, anything, long, narrow and sharp. His eyes instead lit upon the very thing that had secured the window: the key. He was too lucky...

The key was resting on Anzu's bedside table, near her alarm clock. He crept over to it, thanking the gods for his good fortune. His light fingers snatched it up, and he silently zipped over to the window, jamming the key into each of the three locks and turning it. The key worked for all three. He raised the window without a bit of difficulty, and would have kissed the key if it hadn't been so dirty looking. He just looked fondly at it before tossing it somewhere into Anzu's dark bedroom. He heard a faint 'clunk' and turned to see what it had hit. Oh no...

Anzu sat up and rubbed her head. It was full of more pain than she remembered going to sleep with. Something cold touched her hand and she flinched. It was the window key... huh? Anzu looked up at the window just in time to see a head of white hair tumbling out of it, and she fancied she heard a thud two floors below her. Weird...

Even though she was freezing, Anzu got out of her snuggly bed to close the window and lock it. The funny thing was, she didn't remember her or her mother or father opening it.

Anzu walked back to her bed, got under the twenty or so sheets and blankets, and let herself sink back into sleep. She wouldn't remember the incident in the morning.

*******************************

Under the apple tree, Bakura rubbed his bottom where it had hit the ground. "Good thing it wasn't my head," Bakura said aloud angrily, standing up but immediately sitting back down. The pain was too great at the moment to take off with his prize. He lay down on the soft ground to wait out the pain, subsequently getting mud in his hair. Bakura stared up at the stars for twenty minutes before scolding himself, pushed himself off the ground, and started walking quickly in the direction of Ryou's house.

Ryou would discover dried mud in his hair the next morning, but Bakura would deny having any idea about where the mud came from.

As Bakura sprinted to his host's home, he smashed a little white box further into the muddy earth. The notecard glued to the top of the box lost the gift giver's signature under the wet dirt, but not the name of the recipient.

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**Bakura, a panty stealer? Surely not! Oh, but he is...**


	5. The Oddest Dream

**And so... the new chapter is here! I am alive and well... sorry for the wait. I wasn't busy, just super super lazy. Hee tee. **

**Disclaimer: If I am writing this story, would I own Yugioh! (question mark) No, I don't think so. I'd be drawing or animating it. **

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"Seto?"

He was sitting at the end of a long ebony colored table, playing with his sashimi. In one hand he absently picked at the dead fish on his plate, and the other was laying very still on the table. His brother, Mokuba, was staring at him from the other end of the table, concern apparent on his face. The boy too was not eating, rather, concentrating on his older brother.

"Seto? Helloooo?"

While Mokuba was trying to get his brother's attention, Kaiba's mind was far from the dinner table. His eyes, indeed, were glazed over, and his head swirled around one image that he couldn't get out of his mind. Why was it getting harder... his schoolwork, his homework, his office work? His brain just didn't seem to want to do the tedious things in life anymore. It only thought about one thing...

"Seto?"

"Fucking Jesus! Oh gods, Mokuba, you scared me."

Mokuba was now a good ten feet away from his older brother, but before he had been so close to Kaiba's face their eyeballs might have touched. Mokuba was hyperventilating. He rarely heard Kaiba curse, but when his brother did curse, it was so loud Mokuba's eardrums temporarily went on vacation. That is to say, they blew a fuse.

"Sorry Mokuba. You really shouldn't do that. It irks me."

"What?"

"Oh gods. Are you okay?"

"What? What did you say Seto?"

"Come on. Time for bed."

"Huh?"

Kaiba took Mokuba by the hand and started to lead him down the long hallways of the house to the grand staircase that took up most of the front entrance hall. It was a grand staircase, made out of ivory (_pure _ivory, because Kaiba hated elephants) and banisters wrought of 24 karat gold. Kaiba was so proud of that staircase that when he slid down it he imagined it a lover helping him achieve his... well, now is _not_ the place to say that. *coughcummingcough* Ahem.

Kaiba handed his little brother over to a butler, and said goodnight. Mokuba said 'what' again, and Kaiba just nodded. The butler proceeded to carry Mokuba to the Nanny, for his bath.

Kaiba, meanwhile, walked down the long hallway lined with candles and pretty pictures of fruit (picked out by Mokuba personally) to his study. He had a long night of homework to do, because that afternoon something worrisome had occupied his mind, and he just couldn't do his homework.

Kaiba walked, each step echoing in the good acoustics of the hall, and he thought. It was most troublesome, how his thinking almost always revolved completely around this particular thought. He was worried. He had grown fond of... too fond of... and now he was really worried. He was worried, too, about how worried he was becoming. This had never happened to him before. He did not fret over anything. He did not dote upon anything. He didn't love anything. Well, except his money and his things and maybe his brother, but that was besides the point! Kaiba had never, ever, liked, let alone _loved, _something which he had never possessed. Something he could not have. Never. He could obtain wealth, status, power... all of those things were easy and enjoyable to get.

Kaiba unlocked the door to his study. Once inside, he flicked on a lamp. He sat down straightly and slowly in his leather outfitted computer chair. He leaned back and closed his eyes.

Yes. It truly irked him. Made him frustrated more often than not. He hated the feeling, but he wanted it. Wanted it so badly. Jealousy, was it? No... longing? Lust? Perhaps. Kaiba leaned his elbows on his solid oak desk and rubbed his temples. Unattainable, was she? Well, he would get her. And soon. It had to be soon. Both of them. He would have both of them then. Ha. And then he'll see... they'll all see that he could have anything he wanted! Kaiba slammed fists on the table, and laughed. Quietly at first, but it grew louder, until the whole 2,300 square feet of his study was ringing with it, his maniacal laughter. Kaiba relaxed, reclining in his comfortable chair. Yes... we'll see. I'll get them. Both of them. Ha!

****************

Anzu awoke. She felt well. Wait a minute...

Anzu wasn't cold, shivery or achey anymore! Her fever... it must be gone! How wonderful!

Anzu scrambled out of bed and threw open her bedroom window. Sunshine poured into her room, making her wood floor glitter. Anzu twirled around in her nightgown. Finally! After a week of stuffiness clouding her brain, a clogged nose and fluctuating body temperature and stomach aches, she felt good as new!

Anzu hurriedly pulled on a bra, blouse and skirt, intending to zoom downstairs and proudly show her parents she was over her fever.

She stopped at the kitchen doorway. There was no one there. Anzu glanced at the microwave's built in clock. 11:09 a.m. Oh gods no!

Anzu screeched, and started looking all around the house for her socks, shoes, backpack, lunch money... what else was she forgetting?!

She was about to rush out the door when her cell phone went off on the kitchen counter. She had forgotten it! And who was calling? Anzu almost tripped running to get it. She didn't bother to read who was calling as she swiftly shut and locked the door and started sprinting to school.

"Hello?" Anzu asked as pleasantly as she could while running with a heavy backpack on her shoulders.

"Hi sweetie. You sound much better. How are you?"

"I'm fine. How are you?" Why was her mother calling in the middle of the day to check up on her? If she had been in school with her cell phone on, she would have gotten a detention.

"I'm fine too, honey. What's that noise in the background?"

Anzu flew by a girl on a bicycle who was twinging her bike bell.

"Oh, that's just a bike bell, mom." Anzu panted, trying to ignore the stitch in her side.

"Uh-huh. Are you watching television now?"

Did her mother think she was at home? Oh, that must be it. Her mother assumed she was still sick. Well, she was doing the right thing, running to school. Four hours late.

"No mom, I'm going to school." There was silence on the other end of the phone. Anzu jogged by a man selling newspapers. The man yelled something to her, but she didn't pay him any attention. Stupid man selling newspapers...

"You're going to school, sweetie? Well..."

"Yes," Anzu said, running across a crosswalk. She was almost at Starbucks. Good. Starbucks was the halfway point.

"Anzu, darling. Today's Saturday. And you don't have school until Tuesday. It's Saturnalia weekend." Anzu stopped so fast, she almost fell flat on her face.

"Wh-what?"

"Honey, you made a mistake, that's all. Where are you right now?"

"I'm..." Anzu looked around her. She was standing in front of Starbucks, and some people were staring at her through the large clear glass windows. She saw one boy turn to a girl through the window and say something, and the girl laughed hysterically. Then she turned to Anzu and smirked, then waved. Anzu snarled.

"I'm going home. Bye mom."

"Bye dear. See you at five."

Anzu snapped her cell phone shut. Time to go home and mope. Well, it wasn't really her fault. It was a simple mistake, really... anyone could have made it.

"Who am I kidding? I'm the only one dumb enough in Domino City to think today was a school day..." Anzu griped under her breath. "Might as well go home now."

She was starting to attract a lot of stares, mainly because of her backpack and the fact that the citizens of Domino City knew it was a Saturday. But she held her head up high, and started to march home.

She didn't get very far, however, when she felt a hand land on her shoulder. Anzu whipped around.

"Hello mortal. Nice to see you up and about after your sickness... pity, though, that you haven't been sick for long." Bakura grinned, his dark eyes boring into hers. She blinked.

"Stop touching me." She knocked his hand off her shoulder. Bakura put his hands up, then into his pockets.

"Christ, what's wrong, mortal? Think I'm going to contaminate you with little germies?" Anzu rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm just worried about where that hand has been." Bakura's smirk disappeared.

'Ooooh! Dis!' Anzu thought. 'Score one for me!'

Bakura examined his hand, then wiped it on his pants and put it back in his pocket. "Well, mortal. The reason why I even laid my _perfectly clean _hand on your _dirty disease-ridden _body is that I have a proposition for you..."

Anzu stopped him. "I'm not stealing anything, Bakura. Forget it."

Bakura's smirk returned. "Oh, no no. I wasn't going to say anything of the sort." He pulled his hands out of his pockets and examined one of the hand's fingernails.

"I was actually wondering if you would...ah... accompany me to a sweets shop?"

Anzu wasn't sure if she heard him correctly. "A what now?"

"Why, a sweets shop. A store quite near here. It's fantastic. Perhaps you've been there?"

"I don't know. What's the name of it?"

"Candylicious. It has the absolute best fudge. I've been dying to go there ever since Ryou had his stash of the fudge eaten by his father."

"Ummm..."

"Aw, c'mon, Anzu. You don't even have to pay. My treat, sweet."

What? Did he just call her 'sweet'? And why...

"No thanks. And in case you haven't noticed, I'm carrying a rather large backpack over my shoulder, and it's--"

"Oh, come on. I insist. Besides, the backpack is inconspicuous. No one will notice it."

And then Bakura was steering her down the street, attracting curious looks from passerby. Anzu grudgingly went along with Bakura. Maybe the sweet shop had lemonade and she could get some. It was kinda hot outside.

"Well, here we are. Nice place, isn't it?"

The name of the store shop was spelled out in candy... giant letters molded in the form of candy anyway. The C was made of chocolate bars, the A was shaped with gummy bears, but then Anzu's attention was drawn to the store windows. They were clear, covered with plastic stick ons of candies, but through those stick ons inside the shop a person could see rows upon rows of every candy imaginable. There were lollys, chocolates, jellies, jams, jars of chocolate, licorice and sours. Anzu barely registered the chocolate fountain in the centre of the shop before she was pulled inside by Bakura.

The place was huge. Anzu wanted to look at everything, but Bakura hurried her over to the counter before she could protest.

"You can look later. We only have time for ordering now, before the shop gets really full. I'm surprised you haven't been in here before."

Anzu just nodded and stared up at the glossy ordering sheets high above the cashiers heads. This place... was magical. Anzu couldn't believe she'd never set foot in here before. She had to take her parents to this place, and Joey, Tristan and Yugi too!

"What would you like to order?" asked a perky blonde cashier. Her long blonde hair was pulled into mini pig-tails, and she had a wide, white smile on her face outlined in strawberry red lipstick. Her name tag read, in sparkly letters that did not seem out of place: "MISA".

"I would like a..." Anzu's eyes scanned the overhead menu. Her eyes lit upon an ice cream dish she had not had in ages. "A banana split, please."

"Very well," Misa punched in some numbers on the cash register. "And what would you like?" Misa asked Bakura. He winked at her.

"I'll share hers."

Anzu started. Wait, what?

Misa smiled. "Alright, that will be... $12.50."

"Wait---" Anzu began, but Bakura placed twelve dollars and two quarters into Misa's hands.

"Thanks. Here's your receipt. Take this. It'll buzz when your order is ready." Misa handed a square black box with little light surrounding its perimeter to Anzu, who took it.

"Come on Anzu... let's grab that table over there."

Bakura again led Anzu. She sat down, confused, on the candy-cane striped bar seat at a round table near the back corner of the shop.

Bakura leaned on his elbows and smiled at her. She blushed, more than bewildered. He clasped his hands together and started humming. Now Anzu was scared.

"Okay... what is this all about? Am I on candid camera?" Anzu pushed her chair a bit away from the tiny circular table.

"No. But I realized something, that week you were sick. I...I... are you moving away from the table?"

Without her knowledge, Anzu had scooted two feet away from the table. Curse her subconscious mind.

"I was..."

"Well, move back. I need to smell it."

"Smell...what?"

"Your perfume. Come back here."

Scared, Anzu put herself back in her original distance from the table. She had an idea where this was going...

"Anyway, I had a revelation. It just came to me. I decided... well, I _knew_. Do _you_ know that _feeling_, hmmm? That wonderful, butterfly... er... _feeling_?

Anzu was pretty freaked out now. Bakura was really making her feel uncomfortable. She could not handle this. It was a joke, right? Ha ha ha...

The black box starting buzzing, indicating their order was ready. Oh gods... their order.

"I'll get it!" Anzu practically shouted, frazzled and accidentally knocked over her chair. She didn't pick it up, however, and instead ran over to the 'pick up order here' station, where Misa was placing a cherry atop the three scoops of vanilla ice cream. Wow. That banana split was huge.

As Anzu very carefully made her way back to the table where Bakura was dreamily staring into space (she mentally smacked herself) she thought up a plan. Just run out of the door. Bakura would come to his senses later... maybe he drank bad orange juice that morning. There was no way...

She placed the huge bowl of the banana split onto the table, which barely seemed it could hold itself up, let alone the humongous bowl.

"Did you get two spoons, and plenty of napkins, Anzu-sama?" She flinched at the ending to her name.

"I... they're on the tray."

"Oh goodie." 'Goodie?' Anzu thought, chewing on her lower lip.

"But I do have something to tell you first, Anzu-sama---"

That was it. She could no longer bear to be there. She had to leave. It was too confusing and too... too... wrong. Bakura was not going to say he liked her and could they become boyfriend and girlfriend. No, no. Too much stress, have to run away...

She jumped up from the table, causing one spoon to slide off of the banana split (it was already in the ice cream) and plink onto the tray just beneath it.

"I'm so sorry, I just remembered, my mother is expecting me home..."

Before Bakura could say anything, Anzu was quick-walking to the exit. She had to get out of there. Too much stress... her eyes felt raw, and tears were about to be shed out of them.

Then, the sirens went off. Anzu stopped, halfway out the door, when the alarms started sounding. Had she broken some kind of stupid law that she had to remain in the shop before she had finished her ice cream? No, that was silly. She heard someone scream, "Stop right there!"

Anzu turned around. The shrill yell had come from Misa, the cashier, and she was running right toward Anzu.

"You think this is funny? Why did you do it?!" Misa was now shaking Anzu by the shoulders. "Give me back the merchandise, bitch!"

"Wha- stop shaking me!" Anzu pulled herself out of Misa's dizzying grip. She faced the young cashier, who looked about three years older than her.

"I said turn out your pockets! You're not getting away with Candylicious property without paying for it! Stop being sneaky and tell the truth!"

Anzu stared at the mad cashier. "I don't have anything in my pockets..." Anzu said slowly, but Misa let out a very un-ladylike snort and retorted:

"Oh really? And I suppose you aren't the burglar who's been breaking in here every night these past two weeks stealing money and other crap from the store! I was about to lose my job because of you, you little bitch! That's just why the manager of this place put in a high-end security system... to catch you! And now we've finally done it. Oooh, boy, you're gonna pay, baby, you're gonna pay!"

Anzu rolled her eyes at the girl, whose mouth dropped open.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me!"

"I don't have a single thing in my pockets, see?" Anzu pulled a lolly, a packet of gummy bears, a bag of gumdrops, malted milk balls, sours, and skittles, and a roll of money out of her jacket pocket. They were all unopened Candylicious merchandise, and the wad of money had been in the unused cash register just that morning.

************

IF YOU SKIP TO THE LAST STARRED PARAGRAPH RIGHT NOW, THIS WILL NOT END BADLY FOR ANZU. THIS IS A WARNING TO ALL OF YOU.

************

While Bakura was being questioned about this little incident of petty theft by a police officer, Anzu was being handcuffed and led into the back of a unmarked police vehicle. She was quietly sobbing. What would her parents say? Oh gods... her life was so over. She was being charged with a night in the Domino City jail. She would probably get a year of suspension by the school, her friends would shun her, her clubs were as good as closed... and worst of all, her straight A average would be broken, and she'd fall into the depths of despair.

Bakura had gotten his revenge. She felt sick. It was all a plot. Take her to the shop, slip some merchandise in her pocket, make her feel all uncomfortable so she'd run out in a hurry and be detected by the state-of-the-art security system installed by the manager a couple of days ago because all of their stuff started disappearing. It was a clever plan, and had she not fallen for it, she would have been very angry at Bakura.

But he'd won. He'd defeated her so that she could not be angry at him. She was only angry at herself. 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice... shame on me.' Anzu thought sorrowfully as she gazed out of the tinted window at Bakura's hysterical face. He was a good actor. Maybe he'd take her place as the star role in the musical theatre show. Yeah, he probably would.

Anzu sighed and tears rolled down her cheeks. What would she say... to everyone? What should she do... about this mess? She felt horribly ashamed. She was already crying.

To make matters worse, the horn of the police car started beeping, loudly, with quick succession to every loud blast of sound. It made Anzu's head hurt.

"Stop, please..." Anzu moaned. She was talking to herself. Well, not to herself, but to the police car horn. The crazies had already begun.

"Please stop. I'll give you a cookie..." Anzu pulled a chocolate chip cookie out of her pocket. Oh gods, had she stolen this too? It was shaped like a jail. Anzu pushed it at the car horn, which gobbled it up, and blared for more.

"I think I have some more cookies..." Anzu looked under the seat. There was a banana split there. Good. Maybe that will shut the annoying noise. She smashed it over the horn. It swallowed the glass bowl and ice cream whole. It still honked for more.

"Fine! Here, here's Bakura!"

Bakura happened to be leaning against the car door, dressed as a police man with a nice white mustache. Anzu pulled him in through the window, and he barked at her in a language she didn't understand. Norse, maybe?

She didn't care. She fed him to the car horn. It also ate him, but was still hungry. Anzu didn't have anything else to give the stupid horn, but it kept up its beeping until she had an idea. A marvelous idea. Yes.

"Okay, you want more food, you damn steering wheel? Here I am!" And she was sucked into the mouth of the wheel, and crushed by its razor sharp teeth. Ah, to be freed of the burden of life. Now everything was alright... no one could imprison her now!

But the horn still blared.

****************

Anzu groggily sat up in bed, then lay back down. Her head hurt tremendously, and she couldn't breath. She opened her mouth and air rushed in, filling her lungs. Her nose was stuffed up, and her stomach felt terrible.

The clock by her bedside read 4:45 a.m. and was beeping rapidly. Anzu reached over and knocked it to the wood floor. It stopped beeping.

Anzu slowly flipped onto her right side. She remembered something, and suddenly it all made sense.

'Thank the gods... that crazy candy shop, Bakura being all weird, me going to jail and all that other nonsense... it was all just a dream.'

Anzu started to smile but was soon fast asleep, dreaming another odd dream that would startle her awake two hours later.

Outside of her bedroom window, a blue moon shone on a patch of muddy earth that covered a half-buried once white box.

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**I hope you enjoyed that. Time for another two-month vacation! Only kidding... and yes, I did not elaborate on the 'white box' mystery, but it will be revealed! And what the heck was Kaiba talking about in the beginning? Even **_**I **_**haven't figured that out yet...**


End file.
